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105th CONGRESS Printed for the use of the 1st Session Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe REPORT ON THE MARCH 5, 1995 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION IN ESTONIA AND THE STATUS OF NON-CITIZENS: Tallinn and Northeast Estonia MAY 1995 A Report Prepared by the Staff of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION (OSCE) The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki process, traces its origin to the signing of the Helsinki Final Act in Finland on August 1, 1975, by the leaders of 33 European countries, the United States and Canada. Since then, its membership has expanded to 55, reflecting the breakup of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. (The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro, has been suspended since 1992, leaving the number of countries fully participating at 54.) As of January 1, 1995, the formal name of the Helsinki process was changed to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The OSCE is engaged in standard setting in fields including military security, economic and envi- ronmental cooperation, and human rights and humanitarian concerns. In addition, it undertakes a variety of preventive diplomacy initiatives designed to prevent, manage and resolve conflict within and among the participating States. The OSCE has its main office in Vienna, Austria, where weekly meetings of permanent represen- tatives are held. In addition, specialized seminars and meetings are convened in various locations and periodic consultations among Senior Officials, Ministers and Heads of State or Government are held. ABOUT THE COMMISSION (CSCE) The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), also known as the Helsinki Commission, is a U.S. Government agency created in 1976 to monitor and encourage compliance with the agreements of the OSCE. The Commission consists of nine members from the U.S. House of Representatives, nine members from the U.S. Senate, and one member each from the Departments of State, Defense and Commerce. The positions of Chair and Co-Chair are shared by the House and Senate and rotate every two years, when a new Congress convenes. A professional staff assists the Commissioners in their work. To fulfill its mandate, the Commission gathers and disseminates information on Helsinki-related topics both to the U.S. Congress and the public by convening hearings, issuing reports reflecting the views of the Commission and/or its staff, and providing information about the activities of the Helsinki process and events in OSCE participating States. At the same time, the Commission contributes its views to the general formulation of U.S. policy on the OSCE and takes part in its execution, including through Member and staff participation on U.S. Delegations to OSCE meetings as well as on certain OSCE bodies. Members of the Commission have regular contact with parliamentarians, government officials, representatives of non-governmental orga- nizations, and private individuals from OSCE participating States. ii SUMMARY ELECTION Reports of International Observers: The election on March 5, 1995, for Estonias national parlia- ment, the Riigikogu, were conducted normally, without any serious violations of the election law or inter- national standards. A seventeen-member delegation of the Organization on Security and Cooper- ation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly (OSCEPA) concluded that the election was free and fair. The OSCE Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) reported that [the election was] carried out in accordance with the principles contained in the electoral law and there are no major matters which the representatives wish to highlight. ODIHR has submitted several suggestions to the Riigikogu and the National Electoral Committee for improving technical aspects of the process. Commission Staff Observations: Polling stations were well laid out and organized, as reported by ODIHR, but at least one polling station visited by Commission staff member (Rakvere no. 3) was locked until the voting began at 9:00 a.m., precluding any scrutiny by observers of the ballot box sealing, or storage of ballots cast by persons who voted, as permitted by law, up to three days before election day. This was most likely not due to chicanery on the part of election officials, but to the fact that they were not expecting foreign observers, most of whom arrived unannounced. There was no local observer present. At nine polling stations in the rural northeast (off the beaten Kohtla-Jarve/Sillimae/Narva track, where much of the population is ethnic Estonian or Estonian-speaking Russians who have lived in Estonia since the Tsarist era), election procedures were carried on normally, albeit with a certain degree of inconsistency regarding the identification of voters. At some polling stations, voters claiming to be citizens but without Estonian passports could be confirmed by telephone with the local citizenship office. Other officials said no passport, no vote. In at least one small rural village, the chairman of the precinct election commission assured the Commission observer that identification was not necessary, since we know everyone. Political party structures are noticeably undeveloped in the northeast, and in none of the polling stations were any local observers encountered. Discussions at the National Electoral Commission in Tallinn and with local precinct officials revealed some disagreement about the procedure for admitting local ob- servers, around 700 of whom had registered with the National Electoral Commission prior to the election. In any case, the lack of local observers probably indicated general confidence by the citizenry that the government was capable of holding an orderly and honest election without the need for monitors. Checks with other international observers indicated that the only local observers noted were in Tallinn, and pre- cious few of these. Election Results A little over 545,000 voters, or 68.9 percent of those eligible, took part in the election. None of the 16 electoral blocs and parties in contention achieved a majority in the 101-seat Riigikogu. An alliance of the Coalition Party and Rural Union, led by former Prime Minister Tiit Vahi, outdistanced its nearest rival, the Reform Party, headed by National Bank chairman Sim Kallas, by a margin of 41 to 19 seats. Coming in third, with 16 seats, was the Center Party, headed by former perestroika era Prime Minister Edvard Savisaar. Six seats went to non-Estonian (i.e., ethnic Russian or Russophone) candidates running under the Estonia Is Our Home ticket. Several of the most nationalist-oriented incumbents did not retain their seats. 1 Forty-eight members elected to the Riigikogu had served in the previous body, while 23 had been members of the Supreme Council of the Estonian SSR. Eleven women were elected. Besides the usual level of popular dissatisfaction caused by the transition from economic statism to the free market, voters had become disenchanted with what they perceived as an unseemly every man for himself, devil take the hindmost capitalism regnant in ruling circles. By June 1994, The New York Times reported presciently that Estonia Savors Economic Success, But the Reformers May Be in Trouble. Various scandals and allegations of scandal concerning foreign arms deals and privatization hurt the ruling Fatherland coalition, causing it to split up before the election. Immediately after the election, speculation focused on a parliamentary coalition of the Coalition Party and Rural Union, and the Reform Party, but this move foundered on the latters opposition to farm subsi- dies. Ultimately, the Coalition Party and Rural Union agreed to a coalition with the Center Party, with Vahi as Prime Minister. While the election results indicate the desire of many voters to slow the pace of free market reform and for more government concern for persons who suffer economically from the reforms, most observers consider it unlikely that Estonia will make a major turn away from the economic policies that have made the country the most prosperous of the former de facto Soviet republics. STATUS OF NON-CITIZENS Residence Permits: Since initiated in 1994, the registration process whereby non-citizens in Estonia apply for residence permits has been marked by delays and confusion and carelessness and omissions by the pertinent authorities.1 In any event, as of March 1995, approximately 200,000 to 250,000 non-citizens remain without legal residence permits and have until July 12, 1995, the date when the old Soviet passports become invalid, to regularize their status in Estonia.2 Without residence permits, these non-citizens mostly ethnic Russians who moved into Estonia during the incorporation into the Soviet Union may be subject to an order to exit Estonia. The Estonian Law on Aliens prescribes for non-citizens the requirements for acquiring residence permits, work permits, and aliens passports. When the law was passed in the summer of 1993, many non- citizens saw the law as discriminatory and there followed a spate of unrest and threats of violence, espe- cially in the heavily ethnic-Russian northeast. With suggestions from the OSCE and the Council of Europe, the Riigikogu amended the bill to theoretically provide a more secure status for persons who had arrived before July 1990, at which time the Estonian SSR passed its first post-1940 immigration law.3 With these amendments, the situation settled down somewhat. 1Country Reports on Human

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